People find great joy in discovering analogies with life, and I do too. If you search "Life is like a …" on the internet, you will find profound analogies. This post is my submission to the lot.
Last year I went to Everland Theme Park with friends, and on the way back (and the next few days), I was thinking about how close an amusement park comes to being a microcosm of life itself.
The rides symbolize the events/phases in life. Some rides are scary, where your head goes round, and you wish for them to be over soon. Some rides are exciting, and you can't wait to tell everyone about them. Some rides feel good, nothing too up-and-down. Some rides you regret getting on-to, and some rides you wonder what it will be like getting on.
Most of the time spent at the amusement park goes in waiting in the queue for the next ride. If rides represent the intense highs and the lows, the waiting represents the mundanity of life and how most of life is just ordinary moments.
Some rides have a very long waiting time. Usually, they are the most intense ones. For few people, it would be worth the wait, and for others a waste of time.
From one ride to another, we follow where the crowd is going, hoping that others know the map and are going to the best rides. The ones that will be the most rewarding.
People's experiences of the same ride could be very different. Some people are thrilled to be on rollercoasters, while others are fearful. Some people enjoy haunted houses, but others are terrified. Thus people's experience of a particular ride paints an incomplete picture. Until you try it yourself, it's difficult to judge whether you'll like it or not.
The enjoyment increases if you go with people who you like. With companions, rides become more fun, and the waiting becomes more bearable. If you go with someone who doesn't share your same enthusiasm, you feel held back.
Sometimes you have to compromise and give up on a particular ride because you're with someone who can't go. Sometimes you have to put your wish aside and go on a ride of someone else's choice. That's alright. Compromises are part of companionship. Sometimes others encourage you to a ride you wouldn't have gone by yourself.
The amusement parks are so big that you wonder whether you'll be able to go on every ride. With this constraint, you will find yourself in a dilemma to explore more and go on newer rides, but they may turn out disappointing. Or you can go again on enjoyable rides you have already tried.
Most amusement parks have a q-pass (the equivalent of privilege in life), which lets you skip the wait time for a ride. When you are in the waiting line and see others taking the q-pass, you wonder why others have it easy. But sometimes, you are the ones with the q-pass and reach the ride quicker than others.
Everyone experiences amusement parks differently. One can plan out the rides beforehand or go with the flow. One can focus on the big rides or enjoy the small ones. One can go with a big group, a small one, or even alone. All that matters is to have fun.